The present invention generally to methods of treating subjects suffering from a cardiac condition or having a risk factor for developing a cardiac condition by administering an ELA peptide or fusion protein to a subject in need. The invention relates to fusion proteins of Fc-ELA-32 and Fc-ELA-21 that exhibit improved properties for use as therapeutic agents, e.g. in the treatment of cardiac conditions. In addition, the present invention relates to polynucleotides encoding such fusion proteins, and vectors and host cells comprising such polynucleotides. The invention further relates to methods for producing the fusion proteins of the invention, and to methods of using them in the treatment of disease.
